MIAMI -- Since he arrived at one of the nation's elite academic universities, Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh has leaned heavily on his NFL education.

It's an essential part of Harbaugh, who spent 15 years playing quarterback in the pros and two more coaching quarterbacks (for the Raiders).

It's integral to his recruiting philosophy, which targets prospects who want a first-class education and the prospect of an NFL paycheck.

It's also an unmistakable force on his coaching staff.

More than half of Stanford's nine assistants coached in the NFL before joining Harbaugh on The Farm. The list includes associate head coach Greg Roman, who oversees the high-powered offense, and Vic Fangio, who worked wonders in his first year as defensive coordinator.

Virginia Tech, which faces Stanford in the Orange Bowl next week, has just one assistant with NFL coaching experience.

"The whole strategy is to get the best staff possible," Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh doesn't consider NFL coaches to be naturally more astute than their college or high school counterparts. But he and many others believe the best coaching takes place in the NFL -- "It's the cutting edge," he said -- for the simple reason that there are no time restrictions.

NFL coaches are free to study film and design plays all day, every day, until they collapse from exhaustion.

College coaches must devote enormous time to the recruiting process: calling prospects and their coaches, visiting the players and their high schools, attending games and watching endless hours of video.

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Stanford's Derek Mason is a choice example of the NFL's learning curve. After 13 years in collegiate coaching, he spent the 2007-09 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings before joining the Cardinal last spring as the secondary coach.

"I worked with Derek before he went to the NFL," Stanford assistant Lance Anderson said. "And now that he's back in the college game, I see in him how much he learned with his time with Minnesota.

"In the NFL, coaching is a full-time job. You learn football and get really good at what you're doing."

If the NFL is the pinnacle, then why leave for a college gig?

Harbaugh doesn't pursue the NFL's elite -- the offensive and defensive coordinators who command huge salaries and are a half step from becoming head coaches themselves.

Instead, he usually targets up-and-comers like Roman, who was an assistant offensive line coach for Baltimore, and Mason, who was an assistant secondary coach for Minnesota.

"I'm a West Coast guy, and it was an opportunity to work with Jim," said Mason, who grew up in Phoenix and coached at St. Mary's College in 2003. "It was also a chance to have a position of my own."

Harbaugh couldn't lure bright, young NFL assistants without the proper resources. During his tenure, Stanford has doubled the salary pool for assistant coaches (to approximately $2 million) and increased the on-campus housing available for assistants.

"Obviously, the housing has a huge effect," Mason said. "It's a great environment here. It couldn't have been a better decision."

But the transition is not an easy one, at least when it comes to teaching the game. NCAA rules prohibit athletes from spending more than 20 hours per week doing sport-specific activities, which include watching film, working out, practicing and playing games.

"When you count the games, it's really 17 hours per week," said Fangio, who was a special assistant for the Baltimore Ravens -- under Harbaugh's brother, John -- before joining the Cardinal last winter. "You have to pick and choose what you use your time on."

Stanford's players are capable of assimilating large volumes of material in the time permitted. This allows the coaches, armed with everything they learned in the NFL, to use more plays, formations and more disguises than typical college staffs.

"The difference is our multiplicity of looks -- how we like to change things up so much," receiver Ryan Whalen said. "That's what it's like in the NFL, and our coaches have such a wealth of knowledge.